React, etc. Tech Stack

React, Flux, GraphQL, Hack, HHVM...? All of this and more!

Choosing between React vs. Angular 2

In 2015 React.js became the epitome of cool and Angular.js turned from everyone's favourite front end framework to a horrible two-way databinding monster. Obviously that's all overstated and Angular 1.x continues to function just as well as it did in 2014 and solves a lot of problems.

The short answer is use both. Just as with any technology everything has weaknesses and strenghts, but learning the basics like JavaScript and especially ES6, ES7 will serve you better in the future than being too focused on either React or Angular.

React is a great technology and as a library it's ideal for introducing into old applications. The limited opinions React has on other technologies has cultivated a rich environment of supporting tools. And that is the problem, it's not very coherent or tangible for beginners.

Angular 2 on the other hand continues on the path of being a framework. That makes it more of a product and easier to get into. The Angular 2 team has already done a lot of decisions for developers and as such is more uniform than anything that's "built with React".

When maintaining an old application and modernising it gradually, it's better to go with React.js. For new applications both React and Angular 2 are great, but for long running projects with developers coming in and out Angular 2 is probably better. The added benefit is that Angular 2 is based on the Web Components specification.